My plan 2022/23

I am glad that I have had stuff to do on the evaporator and building the sugar gazebo and deck this summer, it has kept the maple season jitters away.

In the next two to four weeks, when my brother comes to visit, I have 5 face cords of split wood, that is a year and half old, to split further into wrist sized pieces, and will surround the evaporator with the newly split wood on three sides.

Also I have string that I will run to find the path for the two new lines. I will identify the maple trees to be tapped and will measure how much tubing I will need. Each spool of line is 500 feet long. I have already purchased two 500’ rolls of tubing and need to know if I will need more. (Hope not)

I have walked up the steep incline once and have no real idea how far it is to the peak and how many maple trees there are enroute. My goal is to have 30 taps on each of the two new lines. I think with the steepness of the hill, I can get away with 30 taps per 3/16 line.

In October I will put out the actual lines. Two are actually out, with five other long ones and two short ones to put out.

My primary transfer pump has arrived. My friend who has been doing sugaring for years has one just like it. It will pump much faster than last year’s pump and will be easier to use. It has stainless steel components. I will use it to transfer sap from my collection barrels, to my 30 gallon transfer tank, to my RO raw sap barrel. Tomorrow I will buy a fitting to go from the 1” NPT outlet to GHT. I will also buy a connector to go from the bare end of the 12 volt cord to my quick connect cables. It will be powered by my ATV and the transfer tank will also be mounted on my ATV.


https://share.icloud.com/photos/0d4s...gP97oAcZ-tYu5Q

I will also buy a patio stone for my arch door. Last year’s door was 24x14x2”, but this year I will put a thinner and slightly smaller door, just to reduce some weight. 24x12x1.5” It should work the same.

I will be buying two horizontal translucent 35 gallon tanks and one or two new translucent Uline 55 gallon tanks.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/014w...VYaJ312qmfG6xg

For my 12 volt equipment like pumps, I use normal 120 volt ends (cut an extension cord in half). These are much better than any quick connect fittings that I have found and you can use a standard extension cord if you need more length. What I wish I would have done was switch the male/ female ends so that someone can't plug it into an outlet.

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Originally Posted by Super Sapper

For my 12 volt equipment like pumps, I use normal 120 volt ends (cut an extension cord in half). These are much better than any quick connect fittings that I have found and you can use a standard extension cord if you need more length. What I wish I would have done was switch the male/ female ends so that someone can't plug it into an outlet.

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Thanks for the tip.

The connector coming from my ATV is a quick connect and they worked well for me last year, so I will stick with them. I did find a quick connect fitting in my supply, that I will solder onto the pump’s wire.

If that does not work well for me, I will look at using your tip.

Gary

I got the vent pipe for the fan. I may shorten it up a little more.

I also picked up the 12x24x1.5 patio stone. It was around supper time when I got home and thought it would just take a couple of minutes to drill the holes. The first hole took me over a half hour to drill. It must have been some super fare concrete. I did not want to drill the second one and further disturb the neighbour’s around suppertime. I will drill the second hole tomorrow for the second handle. It fit perfectly and is likely 30%+ lighter than last year’s door. It cost me under $7 for the door unit.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0535...ZZCeYk8zCj2XDw

Tomorrow I will solder on the quick connect onto the pump and try the pump with some clean water, to make sure it works.

I found I can get your more recent pic psts, but not the earlier ones. Then I noticed on the ones I did get, that they expire on 9/12/22, must be when I tried earlier, they had expired. Must be your sharing approval expired on those. The more recent ones I can get on my windows computer and on my Android phone. Maybe you can make the link share longer, think about it, if it's an option.

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Originally Posted by maple flats

I found I can get your more recent pic psts, but not the earlier ones. Then I noticed on the ones I did get, that they expire on 9/12/22, must be when I tried earlier, they had expired. Must be your sharing approval expired on those. The more recent ones I can get on my windows computer and on my Android phone. Maybe you can make the link share longer, think about it, if it's an option.

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Thanks, I will check that out.

I finished the door. The Concrete drilled a lot quicker in hammer mode, something I avoided yesterday because of the noise and it being supper time. I also attached the quick disconnect wire to the new pump and tested it and it all worked fine.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/09e2...7slW-8FVOuJPfQ

The evaporator is basically done, with the exception of the base stack and pan. Right now I do not have a plan B if ever they were not built in time. The stack I would like before the snow flies, the pan could wait until February. I may just start looking for a plan B, but I am hopeful I will not need it.

Next tasks are getting new barrels, tanks, running string for the new lines and putting a connection pipe in the garage. And seeing if I can extend the expiry dates on the photos.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by maple flats

I found I can get your more recent pic psts, but not the earlier ones. Then I noticed on the ones I did get, that they expire on 9/12/22, must be when I tried earlier, they had expired. Must be your sharing approval expired on those. The more recent ones I can get on my windows computer and on my Android phone. Maybe you can make the link share longer, think about it, if it's an option.

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The expiry date is set for 30 days and cannot be changed. If someone wants to see a photo, I can always send a new link, which will last an additional 30 days. Another option would be to share an iCloud album, but that would show all photos and may not lead the viewer to the picture associated with the post.

Today, in light intermittent rain, I walked up the steep slope where I will have two new 3/16” lines. The bush was not overly thick, so the only challenges were stepping over fallen branches or trees. The forest is half Oak and half Maple. The Oak trees were quite large, the Maples for the most part were smaller than I expected and many fell within the 16” to 10” diameter range. There were a few larger ones.

I used twine to map my route and to determine how much line I would need. Walking up, stringing the line up as I went from Maple Tree to Maple tree, it went pretty well as expected and I had about 27 taps on that route. I still had twine left on my 500’ roll so I know one 500’ roll of tubing will do. I will double check that next week, just in case the odd Oak tree initially fooled me. Although on the ground it is easy walking, the tree canopy is full, with Maple and Oak leaves intermixed.

Coming back down, I had hoped to go to the right of the first line, as I wanted to avoid line of sight of the lines, from my friends place, but I just encountered Oak tree after Oak tree, so I had to start going left, and more left, before eventually working my way back to the collection point. My buddy will see some lines in the forest during the winter, but it should not be too bad. This time I ran out of twine and will need another 50 to 75 feet to make it to the collection barrel. I might be able to reduce that the next time I look at my choices.

So I will have two lines between 450 and 550’ long with 25 to 30 taps on each line, on a steep incline, with no flat spots. I will have a steep uninterrupted run to the collection barrels, to have a good “crux”, to power the natural vacuum . The sap should flow well on these lines.

This Saturday I will be buying two brand new 55 gallon drums for collection. They will be translucent in colour so I can see the sap levels, but also so that they do not stand out too much, as they will be about 20’ away from the road.

In the winter I will have to start walking the lines to make a path, because walking up the lines in waist deep snow, up the steep snow, with gear will be challenging. I will also have to dig out a path through the plow row, as it can be high and long.

My brother comes up Saturday and next week we will walk the lines, confirm that the trees I have wrapped around are maple and will mark them so when I go in late October, after deer season, so I do not get mistaken for a deer, I can identify the maple trees, in case the twine lines are down. We will also look to see if there are any better routes.